


Meltdown in Aisle Five

by agirlintheville



Series: Hulkeye Dads [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 18:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8632921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlintheville/pseuds/agirlintheville
Summary: Clint takes his daughter shopping during the holidays.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the child who was having an epic tantrum in the store yesterday, and to his parents, who looked so completely done.

Clint rubbed his hand over his face, and glanced around. No one had noticed anything yet, so he blew out slow breath, and said in his best authoritative voice, "Put it back."

"No."

"Beth. Put it back. We are not buying it."

"Want it."

Clutching the snow globe tightly in her hands, the three year old tried to place the globe in the shopping cart. Before she could get close to it, Clint moved to block her path. "Beth. Sweetheart, joy of my heart, put it back. Please."

Frowning, she stared stubbornly at him, "Want. It."

"How are you even going to put it in the cart? You're too small to reach." He held out his hand for the globe, and with a grin, she gave it to him. Her grin disappeared as he put the globe back on the shelf. 

"No!" she shrieked, and grabbed it again, this time backing away from him, her eyes screaming with her rage at his duplicity. Clint glanced around again, and this time saw the middle aged woman at the end of the aisle frowning at them. He winced, and cursed the store in his head. Who shelves shiny things at kid level? It's like they were setting him up for this to happen.

"Okay," he crouched down in front of his daughter. "Sweets, look at me. We came here to buy stuff for Papa, remember?" 

She nodded, and held out the globe, "For Papa."

He reached out, and she drew it back, stepping away from him again. He smiled with pride at her caution, then frowned again. "No, Papa doesn't want that. He wants things like laundry detergent, and toilet paper." He stood up and pulled those items out of the cart to show her. "Papa doesn't want snow globes." Dropping the items, he placed his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow at her.

She scowled back, and said, "Want it."

"Beth-"

"I want it!" He flinched in surprise at her scream. "I want it, I want it, I want it!" She dropped to sit on the ground, and began kicking her boots against the floor. 

"Do you need any help?" The woman called from the end of the aisle. Crap, this was not happening to him. Face burning, he kept his eyes on his daughter and forced a cheerful voice, "No, we're fine. Thanks."

"Are you sure?" The doubt was heavy in her tone, and it caused Clint to hunch his shoulders. That's it, good dad patience was gone.

"I said, we're fine," he snapped, raising his eyes to glare at her. She huffed and turned back to items that she had been looking at. Gritting his teeth, Clint turned his glare to Beth who was now red faced and panting. "Beth, give me the snow globe."

"No!" She kicked at him, as he stepped closer to her.

"Stop that, give me the globe." He reached to pull it out of her hands, and she jerked it back hard. He felt his stomach lurch as the snow globe flew out of Beth's hands, and sailed in a perfect arc to smash right in front of the woman's gray suede boots. 

"Oh!" She stumbled back, bumping into her cart, which then knocked into the middle of a display of Santa nutcrackers. The clatter of wooden figurines onto the ground was loud enough to startle Beth out of her cries, and they all stared at the mess and confusion.

For about 5 seconds, there was silence. And then-

"What is wrong with you?"

"I'm so sorry-"

"Daddy!"

Their voices jumbled on top of each other, and the store employee who came rushing over had to yell over them to be heard.

"Hey! Is everything okay over here, what happened?"

"This man can't parent his child, that's what happened!"

"Hey, I can parent just fine. Dammit, Beth, don't go over there!" His words halted the toddler, who had been walking over to the broken snow globe. She sat down on the ground and began to sob.

The woman gaped at him, "You can't swear at a child! What is wrong with you?"

"Yeah? Well, she's my kid, and if she doesn't want me to swear, she can tell me. So, go to hell, lady!" Turning away from her outraged expression, he moved towards Beth who was now lying on the floor and kicking her feet in her misery. He scooped her up under his arm, and reached in his pocket for a few crumpled twenties. Turning back, he thrust them at the employee who was watching everything with wide eyes.

"I'll pay for that," he nodded towards snow globe, "and sorry about the nutcrackers." He hitched his wailing daughter higher under his arm, and added, "and I'm buying the toothpaste. Really sorry about everything."

He strode towards his abandoned cart, and quickly grabbed the toothpaste. Then, he walked towards the store exit, head held high and meeting every curious look that came his way. 

By the time, they reached the car, Beth's sobs had diminished to hiccups and sniffles. Sighing, he buckled her into her car seat, and dug a tissue out of his pocket to wipe her face and nose. She kicked at him. He dodged and smoothed her hair back. Then he handed her the toothpaste box to hold. She threw it out of the car and onto the ground.

He sighed again, "Yeah, that seems about right." He shoved the tissue back in his pocket, and picked up the toothpaste. He double checked to make sure she was secure, and then got behind the wheel, tossing the toothpaste on the passenger seat. As he pulled out of the parking lot, Beth began to cry again. 

"No, no, want it. Go back!"

"Beth, we're going home."

"No, no, no!" She began to scream and kick in her car seat. 

With a groan, he turned up the radio to drown her out. He hoped Bruce had enjoyed his child free afternoon, because it was about to end when they came home. Clint deserved a bath and good three hours of silence after all this.


End file.
